Path of Medicine With a System

Zhang Fan was still quite nervous when he got back to his car. He didn’t even say a single word as he drove off at high speed. Meanwhile, the two women still on the car had both gotten tired. Maybe they were thinking about their own things as neither of them asked him any questions. Zhang Fan simply drove them back to their places, and then returned to his apartment. He did nothing but stare at his cell phone. He was afraid of receiving a message from Shao Hua, but he was also afraid of not receiving any messages from her. He hazily went to sleep in such a manner.

Sometimes, Zhang Fan would be quite free, and sometimes, many things would come for him in succession. A phone call woke Zhang Fan up in the middle of this night. He saw that the call was from Director Chang, from Chark City Hospital. Chark City was one of the cities the farthest away from the bigger Chasu City—it was more than 200 kilometers away. Chark City was also high above the sea level, and had a low population (for a Chinese city). Zhang Fan had only visited Chark City once so far. By the by, Kang Hua was currently the second-highest ranking politician in Chark City.

Chark City Hospital’s medical equipment was the best in of all the surrounding cities. This was because Chark City Hospital was the partner hospital of the best hospital in Serpentmouth City, a major hospital in a major city. Several million yuan in donated assistance would be nothing to such a major hospital.

However, Chark City’s environment was far too terrible. Even in the hottest period of summer, snowfall might suddenly appear. It was common for hail, rainstorms, and snowstorms to all occur on the same day in Chark City. Most people in Chark City were public officials, with a minority being laborers.

Chark City was directly adjacent to the neighboring country. Thus, the border patrol was in charge of Chark City’s security. Chark City Hospital consisted of only one five-story building. There was one level each for internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, and gynecology, while the first floor was for hospital administration and clinical visits. There would be slightly more people in Chark City during the summer, with outsider merchants coming to gather mountain herbs and plants. There were also a few good restaurants in the center of Chark City. But in winter, most residents of Chark City would go to the much bigger Chasu City, making Chark City resemble a ghost town.

Chark City Hospital had very few people in its surgical department. There were only four doctors in total, one director and three vice directors. It couldn’t be helped. The director and vice directors all had the ability to take kickbacks, and no one would be willing to give up anything to each other, so they simply decided to all share the kickback money equally.

These four surgeons typically only dealt with ordinary small injuries. Patients with more serious injuries would be brought by their family members to the bigger Chasu City instead. The only surgeries that Chark City Hospital typically received would be emergency surgeries, the type that people wouldn’t dare to bring the patient to the hospital in their own car.

Sometimes, there was no helping it that seriously injured patients had to be brought to Chark City Hospital, as the hospital at least had ambulances, doctors, and nurses. This was because even if a seriously injured patient was brought to the bigger Chasu City at the maximum speed possible, it might be already too late by that time, and they would pass away. Chark City was just too far away from Chasu City. Not only that, the road between the two cities was mountainous, with many steep cliffs. Things would be better during summer, with a few major bus lines running the route, but in winter, there was usually only military traffic on this road.

Typically only directors or vice directors would be hired to do surgical work at other hospitals. Such doctors would always be getting older in years. With such a long distance, and bad driving conditions, very few people would be willing to go even for 2000 yuan, much less 1000 yuan.

Previously, Director Chang of Chark City Hospital’s surgical department tried inviting Zhang Fan once before. Ever since then, he remembered Zhang Fan’s name. Zhang Fan arrived swiftly, did a good job with the surgery, and, most importantly, he would even split his surgery fee with the four Chark City Hospital surgeons.

This was quite a good thing for them as they all liked having more money. Thus, the four surgeons all became more hardworking than before. Previously, they would instantly send away any patients whose injuries were even slightly serious to Chasu City Hospital, without even a single look, but now, the surgeons here were becoming passionate about coming up with ideas to keep the patients here to schedule several surgical appointments together for Zhang Fan to perform.

Zhang Fan would give the doctors 500 yuan for each surgery, so with four or five such surgeries for Zhang Fan here, the doctors would earn more than even their bonuses. Thus, Zhang Fan working here as hired outside help even served to indirectly improve these surgeons’ quality of service.

“Hello, Director Chang. What’s the matter?”

“Doctor Zhang, we received an emergency patient, a man in his mid-forties. He fell and injured himself after drinking too much. Earlier this morning, he was still fine, but he suddenly went into a state of shock in the middle of the night. According to the ultrasound, he has abdominal bleeding. Our preliminary diagnosis is that he has a ruptured spleen. Would you like to come take a look? The patient’s family is well-to-do, and has already requested that we invite an outside expert. They’ll be willing to pay the extra fee.”

(Author’s note: Helping out other hospitals with their surgeries is similar to writing a webnovel. You can’t just stop updating chapters, and you can’t just easily refuse other hospitals’ requests.)

Zhang Fan checked the time, and saw that it was slightly past 3 am. Even if he left immediately, it would take him three hours to arrive in Chark City. “Director Chang, give the patient fluid injections to correct his electrolyte disturbances from shock. I’ll head out immediately.”

“Alright, Doctor Zhang. The pre-surgery preparations are already beginning.” Director Chang’s tone became really happy upon hearing Zhang Fan’s agreement. Normally, no doctor from a big hospital would actually agree to come in such a situation.

Zhang Fan washed his face with some cold water, and sent a text message to Vice Director Chen Qi that he would likely be late to work today as it would be basically impossible for him to return this morning. Today was Monday, and it wasn’t his and Wang Yanan’s turn to receive new patients, so it wouldn’t be a problem for him to be late.

(Author’s note: It would be best if you only became a surgeon if you have a strong body and powerful mental fortitude. Otherwise, you might be finished after just a few years. The best result would be that your spirit is weakened and you become someone irrelevant in the department. And if your luck isn’t good, then ~~~~)

Zhang Fan took a bun and a milk box with him before heading out. He needed to replenish his energy as he would likely need to perform surgery instantly upon arrival, meaning that he had no time to eat. Not to mention, exploratory surgeries like this one would be even more time-consuming.

Zhang Fan arrived at Chark City Hospital around six o’clock in the morning. This hospital was quite spacious, with plenty of parking spaces. Zhang Fan immediately ran towards the operating room after he finished parking the car. “Director Chang!” he shouted out for the director.

All four of Chark City Hospital’s surgeons were present in the operating room. They hurriedly stood up and greeted Zhang Fan. Since all of them could receive some money from this surgery, none of them were willing to miss out on this chance.

“Doctor Zhang, have some water. Let me inform you of the situation. Here’s the ultrasound, take a look.” Director Chang showed Zhang Fan the ultrasound, while a nurse poured a cup of water for Zhang Fan.

“Thank you!”

“Doctor Zhang, it’s like this. The patient was brought here to our emergency department yesterday in the afternoon for some light abdominal pain. Later in the night, he went into shock, with no pulse after rehydration.

“It’s a spleen rupture. Where are the patient’s other information sheets?” Zhang Fan understood the situation after checking all of the patient’s medical data sheets. He asked Director Chang, “What does the patient’s family say?”

“The patient’s family says to perform exploratory surgery to identity the problem, and that it’s okay to surgically remove the spleen. They’ve already signed the paperwork.”

“Okay, let’s begin the surgery, then.” This surgery wasn’t difficult at all for Zhang Fan. He was easily able to discover the source of bleeding after opening up the abdomen, determine the severity of the bleeding, and surgically treat the patient appropriately!

Although this all sounded quite simple, it typically couldn’t possibly be accomplished without a minimum of more than 10 years of surgical experience after graduating from medical school. Not only that, the experience would have to come from a hospital that was Class B or better. Otherwise, you’d barely get to access any surgeries, and you wouldn’t gain any experience.

Why did the three vice directors of Chark City Hospital’s surgical department not leave here? Either because they were lazy as they didn’t need to work hard here, or due to their family. Additionally, now that they were older, it would be impossible for them to leave. All that was left was to maybe help out at private clinics after retirement. Right now, none of them dared to leave, because they weren’t skilled surgeons, so they didn’t have the courage to.

Normally, the primary surgeon for a surgery would need to check up on the patient after the surgery, as well as meet the patient’s family.

Previously, Zhang Fan didn’t have a medical license, so other official doctors would talk to the patients’ families in his stead. But, he now had a medical license, so he met with the patient’s family for the first time ever.

“This is Doctor Zhang from Chasu City Hospital. He’s incredibly skilled. Things might have been dangerous today if not for him,” Director Chang introduced Zhang Fan in such a manner. Director Chang intentionally exaggerated the degree of danger in order to get more money out of the patient’s family.

The patient was a low-ranking government official who oversaw Chark City’s government-owned forest. In other places, the government-owned forests would typically be unprofitable, but for some unknown reason, overseeing the forest here was a particularly popular job.

This was a small city where everyone knew each other. The family was polite to Zhang Fan. After Zhang Fan finished checking up on the patient, the patient’s older cousin suddenly spoke up right when he was about to leave.

“My younger cousin only came to Chark City Hospital for a minor stomachache, but after several hours of treatment, not only did he not get better, he even got worse! You then told us in the middle of the night that he’s in danger and absolutely requires surgery from an expert? We agreed to this, but such a youngster came? Do you think that we’re easy to fool!?”

The patient’s older cousin was quite unhappy because of how young Zhang Fan was.

Director Chang and the other three vice directors of Chark City Hospital were all unskilled surgeons, so they didn’t receive much respect. The patient’s older cousin wasn’t intentionally trying to start a fight, as he just wanted to complain that the hospital hadn’t diagnosed his younger cousin correctly last afternoon, which ended up with a big scare in the middle of the night, and now that the invited expert doctor seemed like nothing more than a fresh graduate, the patient’s cousin was quite unhappy.

Zhang Fan wasn’t scared of trouble, but he was annoyed. Meanwhile, Director Chang lost a lot of face from this. The emergency department had received this patient, so the surgical department’s doctors hadn’t been the ones to diagnose the patient. Not to mention, the patient was in a shared patient room with other patients and their family members, who could hear all of this.

No matter what, Director Chang was still a director, so he angrily retorted, “I told you to transfer him to Chasu City Hospital when we received him, but you refused. He took a turn for the worse in the middle of the night, so we instantly contacted a skilled doctor from a bigger hospital, and spent so much time to stabilize his condition and save his life. Now that he’s no longer in any danger, you’re unhappy? Then don’t come to our hospital if you dare!”

Director Chang’s words made the patient’s other family members unhappy now.

“What the hell? You don’t have any skills apart from knowing how to ask for money!!” a female family member retorted.

“You try saying that again!!” Director Chang was becoming enraged.

The patient had many family members in the room around him. They all surrounded Director Chang and Zhang Fan, starting to push and shove the two doctors. When Zhang Fan saw that the situation was becoming this way, he hurriedly spoke to the first displeased family member. “Hey, let’s all talk nicely. If you’re dissatisfied with the treatment, you can get a medical opinion from a third party. May I ask your relationship with the patient?”

“None of your business!” But then, the older cousin felt that he should at least say his relationship, so he answered in a vicious tone, “I’m his older cousin. This isn’t the end of things!” He then immediately started making a call on his cell phone.

Although Director Chang was an unskilled surgeon, he had been at Chark City Hospital for many years already. Many people would ask for his help to transfer hospitals or for a preliminary diagnosis. He also had quite a temper. “Get the hell out if you don’t want to stay here! You think you have problems?”

‘Whoa! What’s with this Director Chang’s personality?’ Zhang Fan felt quite helpless about the situation. He wasn’t well acquainted with Director Chang, after all.

Not long after, Chark City Hospital’s superintendent arrived. The patient’s older cousin was a ranking leader on Chark City Communist Party Committee, which meant that the superintendent absolutely had to come.

“Superintendent Chen, it’s not that we’re being unreasonable. Just look at the way your doctors talk to us. So vulgar! He actually told us to get the hell out!! Is this his personal hospital? You owe us an explanation!”

Actually, this entire matter could have been easily resolved by explaining things to the patient’s family properly. However, Director Chang had ruined things due to his bad temper.

“Okay, let’s go to my office to discuss things. We shouldn’t talk here, as it will affect the other patients,” Superintendent Chen said.

“The hospital must apologize to us! Not only that, I suspect that this so-called expert doctor is a scammer! He can’t be allowed to leave until my cousin fully recovers! If my cousin doesn’t recover, well, I’m quite familiar with the police in Chark City.”

Actually, the patient’s older cousin wasn’t even suspicious of Zhang Fan’s identity. However, he had to start some trouble for the sake of his own face.

It would take the patient a minimum of one week to make a full recovery. Was Zhang Fan really supposed to stay here in Chark City Hospital all that time?

He wasn’t in a rush for now, as he waited to see what Chark City Hospital’s Superintendent Chen would say.

“Director Chang, you should know that you’re in the wrong here. We are a hospital, which means we must be responsible for our patients. How about you apologize to the patient and his family? Doctor Zhang, you see how the situation is, so how about you stay behind here to observe the patient’s recovery for a few days?” Superintendent Chen weighed the pros and cons, and felt that it would obviously be beneficial for him to favor the government official’s family over his subordinate and a low-ranking guest doctor.

“An apology? Dream on! I did nothing wrong whatsoever. If I did, then tell the police to come arrest me!” Director Chang then slammed the door and left the patient room. It would be impossible to fire him over this matter, as he was a well-entrenched director. Not to mention, the patient’s surgery had already been completed successfully, so Director Chang had nothing to be afraid of. Thus, he left immediately.

“Just look at that! What’s with that attitude? How could he possibly be a doctor? Chark City Hospital’s medical level is so low because of too many people like him!” The patient’s older cousin was angered to the point where his face became bright red.

Although Director Chang had left, it would be impossible for Zhang Fan to leave so easily. He had performed the surgery on the patient, so he needed to resolve this incident. “Your younger cousin had a ruptured spleen. He went into shock in the middle of the night. It’s all written down in the medical report, as well as in the medical recordings. If you have any doubts, feel free to get a medical opinion from a neutral third party. I’ll be happy to cooperate at any time as I personally performed the surgery. I wouldn’t have even come here if it weren’t for Chark City Hospital’s invitation. The patient can recover with just normal postoperative care. I’ll be more than happy to return here if there’s any problems afterwards. It’s unrealistic to ask for me to stay here all this time.”

“I don’t care. It’s not like we invited you,” the patient’s cousin retorted.

Superintendent Chen glanced at Zhang Fan, and then said, “How about I phone your hospital’s Superintendent Ouyang and ask her to give you a few days of vacation leave?”

Zhang Fan now became somewhat angry because he felt that he was being bullied. He asked the patient’s older cousin, “Must you insist on making me stay here? What if I leave anyways?”

“You won’t be able to leave. I have plenty of friends and family outside. You should consider things carefully. I don’t want you to end up getting hurt.”

“Sigh! Could I ask what place you work at?” Zhang Fan sighed helplessly.

“I’m on Chark City’s Communist Party Committee.”

Zhang Fan then ignored the patient’s older cousin, took out his cell phone, and made a phone call to Tang Jingjing. He didn’t like to trouble others, but the patient’s cousin and the superintendent here were simply trying to bully him because he looked so young.

“Sister Tang…”

Zhang Fan explained the situation to Tang Jingjing, who immediately told him, “Give your phone to the patient’s cousin. Stay safe, and don’t be confrontational with them. Leader Kang is still asleep. I’ll report this immediately to her when she wakes up.” It was still early in the morning.

“No need to tell Leader Kang, Sister Tang. If you can take care of this by yourself, then please help me out. If you can’t deal with this, then let’s tell Leader Kang.”

Zhang Fan then tried to hand his cell phone to the patient’s older cousin, who said, “What, what do you think you’re doing? You think you’re in the right here? I’m not going to take a call from anyone. I don’t care who it is. You’re going to take responsibility for all this until my cousin has fully recovered.”

“Okay, you just wait for me, then! I’ll be over at Chark City Hospital as soon as I can!” Tang Jingjing then hung up the phone call after hearing that the patient’s cousin refused to talk to her.

Superintendent Chen then started to try and assuage Zhang Fan’s feelings. As the hospital leader, he had far too many people’s feelings to consider. Although it was slightly late, he didn’t want to antagonize Zhang Fan completely, either. “Actually, the surgery’s already finished, and the patient’s no longer in any danger. Our hospital is completely capable of postoperative care for the patient, don’t you agree, Doctor Zhang?”

Superintendent Chen then smiled awkwardly when he saw that Zhang Fan ignored him.

Zhang Fan sat down in a chair, closed his eyes, and rested. He had been woken up at three o’clock in the morning, had driven for three hours across 200 kilometers to rush here as fast as he could, and then performed immediate surgery for the patient. But after the surgery, meeting with this annoying incident really made him tired.